Summit Alaskan cruise disappointment (MERGER OF 5 THREADS ON THIS TOPIC)

[nmtraveler]

The people who have a legitimate whine are the people on the B2B from Vancouver on the Summit starting May 20th. X has just dumped them with very little help. They could have easily have offered those folks a ride to Seward after the repair is made. As for the people on the Summit at this time, they really seem to be applying the QM2 whine in chorus! I was supposed to be on that ship right now and would love to be there 78% power or not. Having been on several Alaska cruises, missing Sitka isn't that big of a deal. Hopefully those few aren't spoiling everyone elses party. Personally, I've never met a Brit I didn't like (Phil excluded).NOT:cool:

[Karynanne]

We can form a little fan club of Phils...

 

Karyn

[Ma Bell]

UK Phil is "brilliant" and our US Phil is a sweetheart too!:)

 

The family adopted our UK Phil so he is stuck with us now.;)

[excitedofharpenden]

OK, OK. Enough already Thank you all for your very kind comments. I'm now off to bed, once I find a pillow big enough to support my head;)

 

Phil

[2InfinityNBeyond]

Those poor people. How miserable having to sit on their balconies watching the scenery, enjoying the spa, eating all they can eat, participating in so many different activities. Not even having to make their own beds or do their own dishes.

 

Come on folks, Ketchikan is fine but it's hard to beat a luxurious day on a cruise ship.

 

A bad day at sea is better than a good day at work.

 

________________

2InfinityNBeyond

[woodofpine]

Well, at least they're both British (at least oringally) rather than Greco-American Yank yankers...

 

Since when did X become the line of choice for U.K Soccer Hooligans?

 

Do they think if they disrupt casino operations enough they'll get a management 'Bend'em Like Beckham'?!

[griswalds]

For all the people making excuses for Celebrity, take a few minutes and review the repair history of this ship. Check what was happening with Summit in Alaska September 2004. I have no concerns with someone taking the slow boat if they chose to take the slow boat. We went to Alaska last summer and really enjoyed the ports and would have really felt ripped if we missed the scheduled ports due to mechanical problems instead of bad weather. In February of this year , we missed Ensenda due to cruiseline preference only as weather and ship were fine. Some would probably make excuses for this as well but I believe cruise lines do take advantage of the passenger. Perhaps this group effort will result in some good things for future passengers?

Time to suck it up and take a stand cruisers.

 

Griswalds

[griswalds]

Alert: Summit B-2-B Passengers on 5/20 cancellation

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Evidently, there are a few of us out there: passengers who booked back-to-back trips on Summit and who are impacted by the 5/20 cancellation.

 

In our case, we live within driving distance of Vancouver, so planned to drive to the pier, take the 5/20 sailing to Seward, and return to Vancouver on the 5/27 sailing.

 

Now that the 5/20 sailing is cancelled, we have a real problem: getting to Seward to catch the second leg of the trip. Because we were driving to Vancouver, we don't have air transit through the cruise line, and I haven't been able to secure alternate transportation at anything close to reasonable prices.

 

Celebrity refuses to refund the second leg of the trip, claiming that the cruise hasn't been cancelled and no compensation can be offered. If we don't show up, we'll lose 50% of our booking fee.

 

I've spent all day on the phone (can recite the stupid commercial by heart), and after involving a supervisor, we've learned that Celebrity will waive the rebooking fee if we book an alternate trip in place of the second leg--but we have to do it before next Friday, when the 5/27 sailing "closes", whatever that is.

 

Bottom line: if you're in this situation and can't get yourself to Seward, BE SURE to rebook another cruise right away, transferring the 5/27 booking to a later trip. That's the only way to avoid cancellation penalties if, like us, you can't find a way to get to Seward to catch the ship on 5/27. Make sure they waive the rebooking fee ...

 

There goes my vacation. Pffftt.

[flagger]

Why are you posting something that is not your writing? Or are you the one booked on a B2B? It is VERY bad form to present the words of others as your own with not a mention of credit anywhere in the above post.

[ex cruiser]

With all due respect to all board members, the fact is that on each cruise there are some passengers that will cause havoc for trivial things. In the past i used to wonder what made these people so miserable to book a vacation and enjoy complaining!

I feel for the staff of the SM. There are some great men and women there who work their behinds off to serve the guests and do not deserve this kind of abuse. However this is something that you know that it can happen when you sign on and you feed off the great people that you get to meet on the cruises. That makes a whole lot of difference i can tell you first hand. What people dont realize is that when they abuse the staff , the staff will do absolutely what is necessary so their supervisor will not tell them that they did not perform. They will never go the "extra mile" and if they really have to they will do the minimum. Its the human nature. You treat someone like dirt what do you expect to receive in return? The people though who enjoy the service, these are the folks that get the most attention although it may actually not seem that way. The waiter will always make sure that their "good guests" will get the best cuts, the best plates from the galley. The good guests are the ones that are the "nice people" who its a pleasure serving.

At any rate I dont want to be off topic so to speak, I just get knots in my stomach reading some of the posts here so i thought I would share some feelings with you.

 

Regarding the damage, someone here gave a pretty good picture what is the technical issue. I was actually pleasantly surprised by that! From all the people I know I can attest that first and foremost the safety of the passengers are the first concern of the Captains that I know. Believe me I have first hand knowledge on this having done what I used to do in the past. The fact remains that if you push the pod at full revolutions, if this large bearing disinegrates it will completely destroy the pod and cause extensive damage around. This is not something you want to play with and that is why what they do now its the safest solution. As it is the pod is producing, albeit at lower revolution if at all, but the issue here is that for a ship to remain safe at sea you have to have propulsion. Even with one pod you still have propulsion, but you dont have a safeguard. A back up. For every system on these ships there is always back up. This is the safety mentality that prevails. A responsible company and Captain would not sail the ship with one prop. Its as simple as that. Granted there are ships that actually have only one prop ( some old ships and gargo ships) but when you are having 3000 lives onboard you just dont want to take ANY risk.

 

So with that in mind, there are 2 ports missed. What always gets me, is that the proposition of a cruise for some is that only ports count as the experience! Is this what a cruise is all about? How about the room cost, the food cost, the amenities cost, the service cost, the entertainment cost, the ac cost etc? Where do all these figure into the equation? If ports only count then, why these people dont go fly from one port to another and overnight in a local hotel? Why do they come on a cruise??? When your car breaks down do you ask for a full refund from the dealer?

 

Someone said that Celebrity will give back $380000 only to save that on fuel...I dont want to be insulting to anyone here, but I feel that these kind of statements are not valid when you dont know exactly what is happening. You see the "fuel cost" especially on the GT ships like the Summit, its not really how many revolutions the props turn, its how much energy is spend doing so and how much energy is spend to power up all the systems onboard. If you see the amount of fuel spend on Air Conditioning, or the refrigiration on board alone you will understand.In this case, the amount of power spend is not really associated with the speed of the ship or the individual prop revs. The ships are hydrodynamically designed to perform using both props at certain RPM and blade angle. The cruising speed actually tends to be the most economical of all speeds ( either faster or slower). With the pod in question moving at very low RPM its actually very inneficient use of power and although I'm not onboard from the things I know, I can tell you that both engines are producing full power in order to make full use of the one prop to make up for the deficient 2nd prop... These engines are not connected to the pods via a straight shaft, but they provide electricity to the electrical engines inside the pods which in turn they turn the screws attached. They also power up everything on the ship, from the lights to the sewage plant. So in actuallity Celebrity is spending MORE money that on a regular cruise...

 

Having said all that, I can appreciate that for some people cancellations of ports are a big issue and I do sympathise a lot, although I'm a bit conflicted on the monetary value that this would have to each individual. Although I'm not employeed by celebrity and I'm free to comment as I please so to speak, its not my style to comment on the package offered to the guests onboard. My only comment on this, is that people should stop abusing the crew and go about it in a civilized manner. Trust me they will gain more than when they scream and yell.

 

Oh and one more thing :D Someone here said , rightfully so, why they dont get them off the ship? Well...i dont know why in this instance, but if passengers actually complain about these kind of people and state that their cruise is desrupted, then the management has some ammunition to talk to them and ask firmly for them to stop what their doing and if they dont, then the next port they are indeed off the ship... If noone says anything though its another story...

 

My apologies for the long post, promise it wont happen again!

Enjoy your cruises! In a lot of ways I miss them and some of you ( this is for Andy and Lois ;)) so much...

[twonpcb]

For those of you on the 5/27 out of Seward:

 

If the ship is going to be in drydock the week of 5/20 in Vancouver, how is it going to get to Seward to sail on the 27th?

 

Robert

[Texed]

:o :o :o

Oh dear, how embarrassing that it is my countrymen and women who appear to be making a bit of a spectacle of themselves!!

 

Tony and Angie

 

Don't worry, some of us have met a lot of you, and we would never put classy folks into that category no matter where they are from.:)

[nmtraveler]

When Summit went into drydock in September 2004, it took about 4 days to fix the problem. Given that, they will have about 3 days to get to Seward. We were on the September 2004 coastal and it was delayed 2 days (3-4 days sailing to/from San Francisco and 3 days from SF to Vancouver). It didn't spoil our cruise one bit. We missed Seattle but the rest of the cruise was as advertized. Celebrity at first didn't offer much to compensate for the 2 days we lost on the cruise but finally refunded a prorated amount. Being stuck in Vancouver 2 extra days was tough but we managed to survive:D

[griswalds]

Good point "Flagger". First time trying to quote another posted message. I will try harder next time and make sure the quote is reflected accurately. I know the readers on this site are most forgiving.

 

 

Have a good one!

 

 

 

Griswalds

[cruisePRN]

 

 

So with that in mind, there are 2 ports missed. What always gets me, is that the proposition of a cruise for some is that only ports count as the experience! Is this what a cruise is all about?

 

 

 

In Alaska yes the Ports count more then the cruise. If all cruises were created equal why would Alaska be so much more expensive? To many the itinary is very important.

The real issue is the fact X knows about the problem and hasn't fixed it. If they can't fix the problem they need to get a refund on the defective ship and build a new ship. To fleece people is unconscienceable.

[excitedofharpenden]

Enjoy your cruises! In a lot of ways I miss them and some of you ( this is for Andy and Lois ;)) so much...

OK Lois. In view of the amount of crew members you know, it could be quite a feat for you to work out who this is:D

 

Phil

[Lois R]

Phil, I have no idea who the poster is....that last paragraph

was meant for me and Host Andy? The only people I know we

both have been friends with was the Hotel director on Summit.

ex-cruiser?.....as in prior...or X as in Celebrity?

[excitedofharpenden]

Phil, I have no idea who the poster is....that last paragraph

was meant for me and Host Andy? The only people I know we

both have been friends with was the Hotel director on Summit.

ex-cruiser?.....as in prior...or X as in Celebrity?

I think that's it, Lois. You and Andy will have to have a discussion off board. I wouldn't really like to see them revealed here though, ex-X or not;)

 

I thought it was a good post by the way, ex cruiser. I have always believed that if you treat others in a good way and with courtesy, whatever they do, you'll get more back.

 

Phil

[Lois R]

Hi Phil, couldn't agree with you more...when you treat people

nicely, usually it comes back around ten fold:)

 

And I understand about the other, no worries.

 

Hope you are feeling well Phil!

 

One more sleep and I am off to Seattle!:D

[Ma Bell]

I think that's it, Lois. You and Andy will have to have a discussion off board. I wouldn't really like to see them revealed here though, ex-X or not;)

 

I thought it was a good post by the way, ex cruiser. I have always believed that if you treat others in a good way and with courtesy, whatever they do, you'll get more back.

 

Phil

 

Phil,

 

There's no doubt about that. There are times that it is almost embarrassing how much the crew will do to make you happy if you are kind and considerate. Yes, there are times when things are not up to expectations, but being rude and abusive solves nothing.

[excitedofharpenden]

Lois, have a great cruise.:) You will be meeting Claudia, I think. Enjoy Alaska.:cool:

 

Phil

[Ma Bell]

Lois,

 

Wishing you a lovely cruise to Alaska. We're going with the whole family(except Phil);) next month. I also agree about Ex...a wonderful person.:)

[cdfev]

The reason that some people complain is that they have learned in the past that it works for them and a reward awaits if they just complain long enough and loud enough. This is not a situation where there really is a victim but there is a feeling that retribution is deserved...nobody wants to have bad times or bad things happen to them but in circumstances where blame can be assessed, it has become the norm to expect a reward to be forthcoming. Can you imagine what our forefathers would think if they saw the nonsense that some people seem to expect as their just due when anything "bad" happens? If only we could have the perfection in life that is promised to us when we purchase a cruise.

 

Character is how you act when bad things happen...some people have character and overcome adversity...other people have no idea what character is and make complete fools of themselves as they scream for recompense.

[Ships R Great]

The Summit and it's sister ships have a history of problems with their pods. Celebrity chooses to run the risk of running this ship knowing that it has a high risk of breakdown.

 

Griswolds

 

Why do pax "choose to run the risk" in booking on this class of ships when it has been so much in the news for having pod problems? IMHO, they are at fault for their discomfort, not X. (Just joking, but there is a kernal of truth there.)

[Ma Bell]

The reason that some people complain is that they have learned in the past that it works for them and a reward awaits if they just complain long enough and loud enough. This is not a situation where there really is a victim but there is a feeling that retribution is deserved...nobody wants to have bad times or bad things happen to them but in circumstances where blame can be assessed, it has become the norm to expect a reward to be forthcoming. Can you imagine what our forefathers would think if they saw the nonsense that some people seem to expect as their just due when anything "bad" happens? If only we could have the perfection in life that is promised to us when we purchase a cruise.

 

Character is how you act when bad things happen...some people have character and overcome adversity...other people have no idea what character is and make complete fools of themselves as they scream for recompense.

 

The problem is that many of these people want compensation for things that are really beyond the control of the service provider. I firmly believe the old adage "what goes around comes around" and if one is fair minded and kind to others the rewards are much greater than a few bucks.:)